Based on over 150 photographs taken by British astronaut Tim Peake, the book documents his six months on the International Space Station Continue reading...

Matter as we know it accounts for less than 5% of the known universe - the rest remains something of a mysterySubscribe & Review on iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud

The Navier-Stokes equations explore how all fluids behave, from liquids and gases to weather systems and galaxies. For Dr Hannah Fry they are the perfect example of how powerful mathematics can be when it comes to unlocking the romance of nature

Ants on the Pacific islands observed carefully sowing and fertilising seeds of at least six types of plant as part of a relationship that reaches back 3m yearsAnts found in the Pacific islands of Fiji behave as miniature farmers, carefully sowing and fertilising the seeds of at least six types of plant, a study has said.

British researchers say 1% at risk of heart failure under abnormal stress, such as pregnancy or alcoholismOne in every 100 healthy people carry a faulty gene that could trigger a dangerous heart condition, scientists have found. Researchers at Imperial College London and the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre say 1% of the population are at risk from heart failure when the organ is placed under abnormal stress – such as through pregnancy or alcoholism – even if they appear otherwise healthy.

Researchers able to reduce anxieties without asking people to think about them consciously, making it more appealing than current therapiesScientists have raised hopes for a radical new therapy for phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with a procedure that can dampen down fears linked to painful memories.The advance holds particular promise for patients because in early tests, researchers found they could reduce anxieties triggered by specific memories without asking people to think about them consciously.

The answer to today’s cake puzzlesEarlier today I set you the following three puzzles:1.You have a square cake, and four friends. How do you divide the cake into five slices of equal size? Each slice must be slice-like, meaning that the knife cuts vertically and the tip of each slice is at the centre of the cake. You have no ruler or tape measure, but you can use the horizontal grid here. Continue reading...

Device is more accurate than current tests, and uses saliva to reveal levels of cocaine in drivers’ systemsScientists have developed a new roadside test for cocaine in an effort to improve driver safety.The device is an improvement on current tests, avoiding the problem of false positives, and can offer insights into how much of the drug drivers have taken. Continue reading...

A bake off for the brainUpdate: solution’s now up.Hi guzzlersTo celebrate my birthday this week I thought I’d serve up three cake-based puzzles. Ent-icing! No soggy cerebellums please. Ready. Steady. THINK Continue reading...

The concept of beauty underpins how mathematicians solve quantum theory or describe gravity. From E=mc² to string theory, mathematical beauty has led physicists to draw up some of the most compelling descriptions of reality. ‘Beauty is the torch you hold up in the belief that it will lead you to truth in the end,’ Sir Michael Atiyah says.Plus, watch mathematicians Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Marcus du Sautoy and Hannah Fry talk about their favourite equationPaul Dirac had an eye for beauty. In one essay, from May 1963, the British Nobel laureate referred to beauty nine times. It makes four appearances in four consecutive sentences. In the article he painted a picture of how physicists saw nature. But the word beauty never defined a sunset, nor a flower, or nature in any traditional sense. Dirac was talking quantum theory and gravity. The beauty lay in the mathematics.

The Central Otago region, best known for pinot noir and adventure sports, has become a target for letterbox drug deliveries to unoccupied holiday homesDrugs are being mailed to the letterboxes of unoccupied holiday homes in New Zealand’s deep south as methamphetamine use in the country’s peaceful and picturesque Central Otago district increases.The region in the southern south island, which is best known for its pinot noir vineyards and adventure sports, is a tourist mecca for foreigners and locals. Continue reading...

Curtin University’s desert fireball network tracks down 1.15kg meteorite that fell hundreds of kilometres north-east of PerthScientists have recovered a freshly fallen meteorite from a farm several hundred kilometres north-east of Perth.Members of Curtin university’s desert fireball network team tracked the 1.15kg, squashed brick-shaped meteorite, which fell to Earth near Morawa just after 8pm on 31 October. Continue reading...

PM will unveil strategy to boost technology industry following anger from bosses at her administration’s approach to big businessTheresa May is to commit the UK to a £2bn annual fund for scientific research and development and a review of tax incentives for innovative corporations in an effort to boost the technology industry.In her first speech to the CBI’s annual conference, the prime minister will outline “the first steps in a modern, ambitious industrial strategy” following increasing anger from bosses at her administration’s approach towards big business. Continue reading...

It is 60 years since CP Snow’s essay The Two Cultures poured scorn on the literary world and welcomed the advance of science and technology. But in a fractured world, the humanities are key to an understanding of othersIn Denis Villeneuve’s lyrical sci-fi movie Arrival, a dozen mysterious vessels from an unknown planet appear on Earth. The military sends in the experts: a professor of physics and a professor of linguistics. Their task is to procure the answers to two questions: what do the aliens want? Where are they from? The physicist asserts that “the cornerstone of civilisation isn’t language, it’s science”. But the linguist is not so sure. She suggests that they might try talking to them. The film gently asserts the possibility that the humanities hold the key to understanding an alien culture – that speaking someone else’s language, literally and metaphorically, might be what’s required to avert violent disaster.Sixty years ago last month, CP Snow’s influential, much-debated essay The Two Cultures was published in the New Statesman. He wrote of a “traditional culture” that was “mainly literary”, behaving “like a state whose power is rapidly declining – standing on its precarious dignity ... too much on the defensive to show any generous imagination to the forces which must inevitably reshape it”. He characterised scientific culture, on the other hand, as “expansive, not restrictive, confident at the roots, the more confident after its bout of Oppenheimerian self-criticism, certain that history is on its side...” Continue reading...

Research into the controversial science of freezing humans is being stifled by close-minded scientific community, it is claimedVital interrogation of the science behind cryogenically freezing humans is being stifled because scientists fear being ostracised and ridiculed, according to a leading researcher in the field.

The government has a plan to help the people once known as the ‘squeezed-middle’ – it’s going to rebrand themName: Jam.Age: Four months old. Continue reading...

Those offering to cryogenically freeze people’s bodies are offering false hope to those frightened of dying, he saysThe father of a 14-year-old girl who was granted her dying wish to have her body cryogenically frozen has accused those who provide the service of taking advantage of vulnerable people.The teenager, known only as JS, decided before her death from cancer that she wanted her body to be preserved in the hope that she could be brought back to life at a later time. Her wish was upheld by the high court. Continue reading...

Clothing that can help people learn how to walk again after a stroke is the brainchild of a Harvard team reinventing the way we use robot technologyConor Walsh’s laboratory at Harvard University is not your everyday research centre. There are no bench-top centrifuges, no fume cupboards for removing noxious gases, no beakers or crucibles, no racks of test tubes and only a handful laptop computers. Instead, the place is dominated by clothing.On one side of the lab stands a group of mannequins dressed in T-shirts and black running trousers. Behind them, there are racks of sweatshirts and running shoes. On another wall of shelves, shorts and leggings have been carefully folded and labelled for different-size wearers. On my recent visit, one student was sewing a patch on a pair of slacks. Continue reading...

A new study links a dark outlook with greater risk of death from heart disease. But being grumpy might help you in old ageThe glass can be half-full, or it can be half-empty, depending on your outlook on life – or on which side of the bed you get out of any particular morning. But can optimism or indeed pessimism really affect your health?It’s been a bone of contention for many years, and the issue has spawned a plethora of self-help guides on how to be “positive”, especially in the face of serious illness. But the scientific evidence in support of a sunny disposition is contentious, contradictory and controversial. Continue reading...

What links anxiety and a good vocab? Take this personality test to find outAre you a natural worrier? To find out, simply take the following vocabulary test. Please define: (a) abrade, (b) abrogate, (c) ret, (d) pintle and (e) quaternary. The answers are at the bottom of the pageThese are some of the rarer words in English, turning up – on average – just once in every 50m words of speech. So if you get even just one or two right, your vocabulary is well above average. If you got them all right, it is absolutely stellar. Now for the bad news… Continue reading...

In the absence of religion, people find other ways to face death. This girl, and the mother who supported her fight, deserve nothing but sympathyThere is so much that is distressing about the case of JS, the 14-year-old girl with terminal cancer who wished to be cryonically preserved after death, in the hope that she could be revived when a cure for her rare illness had been discovered. Her mother supported the girl in her wishes; her estranged father did not. So, without the consent of both parents, the child had to apply to the courts for permission for the procedure to take place.Related: 14-year-old girl who died of cancer wins right to be cryogenically frozen Continue reading...

Man blames former partner for also stopping him seeing body before it was embalmed and frozenThe father of a 14-year-old girl whose remains have been frozen after a high court judge’s ruling said he last saw his daughter alive nine years ago and did not get to view her body before it was cryogenically preserved.The teenager, who died on 17 October, was terminally ill and had wanted her remains to be frozen in the hope she could be revived in the future. Continue reading...

350 corpses stored in liquid nitrogen await immortality. But detractors say the brain’s complexity is a major stumbling block“My primary strategy for living through the 21st century and beyond is not to die,” Ray Kurzweil, the futurologist and Google engineer has said. But in the event that plan A doesn’t work out, he has opted to have his body cryogenically preserved at the world’s largest facility, the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona.Related: Father of cryogenically preserved girl did not see daughter before she died Continue reading...

Court decision to let dying teenager have body frozen could have unintended effect of giving people false hope, says professorCryonic freezing companies should be banned from marketing the technique to vulnerable people, according to a leading neuroscientist who said they were being sold a false hope that freezing their bodies would allow them to be brought back to life in the future.Clive Coen, a professor of neuroscience at King’s College London, said the high court decision which allowed a dying 14-year-old girl to have her body cryogenically frozen could have the “unintended consequence … that a lot of people are going to think this is worth a punt”. Continue reading...

Dementia is now the commonest cause of death in England and Wales, and although Alzheimer’s was first identified more than a century ago, effective treatments have proved elusive. But progress may now be in sightRelated: Sea Hero Quest: the mobile phone game helping fight dementiaMost of us forget names, dates or places from time to time. But Hilary Doxford never did. While the rest of us smile about our common inadequacy, she knew she was experiencing a genuine malfunction of her high-performance brain. “I did have a really good memory and didn’t need to write things down,” she says. “And I used to be able to multiply two four-digit numbers together almost instantaneously.” But one day, she started getting the sums wrong. Continue reading...

If I said you had a beautiful body, would you ... freeze it after death and hope to be reanimated in the future? And does it really offer a chance to return from the dead? If you’re keen to try it, it might be worth considering that experts have raised the alarm over the declining effect of last-line antibiotics - you might be looking at a rather shorter second life than you’d hoped for. Still, a gene-editing breakthrough that has allowed scientists to restore sight to blind animals could in future be used to combat a range of devastating genetic diseases, so perhaps it’s worth a punt? Given that researchers have discovered that they can tell a frightening amount about you just from chemical traces on your mobile phone, maybe even cryogenics and reanimation will look old hat in a couple of years - will regeneration be possible one day? I’m privately hoping that when they wake me up in a thousand years, my first holiday will involve a dip in Pluto’s vast ocean. I reckon it’d be bracing enough to really blow those cobwebs away. Continue reading...

Researchers say bacteria naturally present on leaves grows much faster once bag is opened, even when kept in fridgeBroken leaves in bags of prepared salad can hugely increase the risk of salmonella, a study suggests.

From wild cats to catalogues to a fake apeman, a new show at the Wellcome Collection explores our attempts to explain the natural worldIf you have any interest in animals that aren’t humans, it is easy to find yourself sympathising with Rex Harrison as he struggles to communicate with a pushmi-pullyu in the 1967 film of Doctor Dolittle, then singing along as he dreams of not only talking to the creatures in his menagerie (“grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals”) but having them answer back.Related: 'Rogue taxidermy': a misunderstood ethical art form or the next hipster fad? Continue reading...

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says resistance of some strains of bacteria is growing

Sometimes, a tune can say so much more than an image or words. Here, we turn almost 150 years of global temperatures into music. The higher the temperature, the higher the pitch of the note. And the louder the note, the more carbon there is in the atmosphere Continue reading...

Judge backs UK mother in allowing body of teenage daughter, who died of cancer, to be preserved in US – a process her estranged father opposedA 14-year-old girl who said before dying of cancer that she wanted a chance to live longer has been allowed by the high court to have her body cryogenically frozen in the hope that she can be brought back to life at a later time.The court ruled that the teenager’s mother, who supported the girl’s wish to be cryogenically preserved, should be the only person allowed to make decisions about the disposal of her body. Her estranged father had initially opposed her wishes. Continue reading...

Peggy Whitson, 56, will also have clocked up the most total time in orbit of any US astronaut on return from International Space Station in six monthsA multinational crew including a US astronaut who is the oldest and most experienced woman to fly in space blasted off from Kazakhstan for a two-day journey to the International Space Station.The Russian Soyuz rocket carrying American Peggy Whitson, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Thursday night local time.

While it used to be the stuff of science fiction, the technology behind the dream has advanced in recent yearsThe decision of a teenage girl to have her body cryogenically frozen in the hope of being reanimated by medical advances in the future is one with which many could sympathise. But does current evidence suggest the gamble will pay off, or does cryonics simply give desperate people false hope dressed up in the language of science?

Committee calls on government to offer an immediate commitment to EU scientists and engineers currently living and working in BritainEU researchers who have come to Britain must be allowed to stay, according to a cross-party group MPs who are calling on the government to offer an immediate commitment to those who have already made Britain their home.The MPs on the Commons science and technology committee want EU scientists and other researchers exempted from wider immigration controls that will be up for discussion in the UK’s negotiations with Europe over its departure from the union.

Royal College of Surgeons explores 3D hologram headsets and other hi-tech devices to replace cadaver-based tuitionSurgeons are embracing technology’s cutting edge, using the latest in augmented, virtual and mixed reality to transform medical training.Related: How virtual reality is changing the game in healthcare Continue reading...

Trial shows GM techniques can be used to increase efficiency of photosynthesis, a finding which could help meet the global demand for foodGenetically modified (GM) plants designed to use light more efficiently produced a 20% greater yield in a study that could have significant implications for global food supplies.The field trial, which used tobacco plants, is the first to show that GM techniques can be used to boost the basic efficiency of photosynthesis, potentially offering substantial gains across almost all food crops in the future. Until now many scientists had doubted this would be possible. Continue reading...

Psychologist whose work on human memory exposed her to death threats, lawsuits and a campaign to have her sacked, wins prize for her courageA leading psychologist whose research on human memory exposed her to death threats, lawsuits, personal abuse and a campaign to have her sacked has won a prestigious prize for her courage in standing up for science.Professor Elizabeth Loftus endured a torrent of abuse from critics who objected to her work on the unreliable nature of eyewitness testimonies, and her defining research on how people can develop rich memories for events that never happened.

A team of researchers has spent four years studying the meanings and origins of almost 50,000 surnames of British and Irish records back to 11th century, from the most common to the highly obscure. Some names have been around for many centuries while other more recent arrivals are explained for the first time in the work, the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, which is published on Thursday

95%-complete composite skeleton of extinct bird is first such item to go on public sale for 100 yearsThe first near-complete skeleton of a dodo to go on public sale for 100 years is anticipated to fetch up to £500,000 when it goes under the hammer next week.The 95%-complete composite skeleton, put together over a period of two decades by a private collector, will be auctioned in Billingshurst, West Sussex, on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Early signs from the Trump transition team suggest a worrying assault on the role of science in policymaking. How should the scientific community respond?

Hypocrisy seems to be everywhere lately. How do people reconcile themselves to saying one thing and doing another? And are there benefits?Thriller: why do our brains allow us to enjoy being scared?In these times of political turmoil, aggressive online discourse, “post-truth” society and lord knows what else, one thing is hard to deny: there’s a lot of hypocrisy flying around. People regularly and angrily lambast others for doing something, while doing pretty much the exact same thing themselves.Pundits condemning young people for being “special snowflakes” for wanting to be sheltered from controversial views in “safe spaces”, then having an apparent meltdown whenever they see anything even vaguely inconsistent with their opinions. Angry online types who condemn the BBC for “bias” while enthusiastically linking to sites that make no effort at all at neutrality. People who preach tolerance and respect but get outraged whenever anyone disputes their methods. The list goes on. Continue reading...

Astronauts on the International Space Station took these images of cities at night. Note that up doesn’t necessarily mean north. All images: ESA/NASASan FranciscoVancouverMilanLondonMoscowTokyoAthensNicosiaNaplesTehranKuwait CityHavanaIstanbulCairoHelsinkiTorontoMexico CityNew YorkMadridRomeHelsinkiSydneyMelbourneWellingtonBarcelonaLisbonNiceChicagoDetroitDallasKuala LumpurJakartaHong KongDubaiAbu DhabiDohaBrusselsParisBerlinLas VegasBlackpoolRiyadh Continue reading...

China points out to global warming denier and president-elect that Republicans under Reagan and Bush actually put global warming on international agendaChina has rejected Donald Trump’s claims that climate change is a Chinese hoax, urging the US president-elect to take a “smart decision” over his country’s commitment to the fight against global warming.

The most influential psychiatric handbook prohibited a joint diagnosis of autism and ADHD until 2013. But the link could be significantUntil as late as 2013 a joint (or comorbid) diagnosis of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was not permitted by the most influential psychiatric handbook, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM is an essential tool in psychiatry as it allows clinicians and researchers to use a standard framework for classifying mental disorders. Health insurance companies and drug regulation agencies also use the DSM, so its definition of what does or doesn’t constitute a particular disorder can have far-reaching consequences.One of the reasons for the prohibition of a comorbid diagnosis of autism and ADHD was that the severity of autism placed it above ADHD in the diagnostic hierarchy, so the inattention that is normally present in autism did not seem to merit an additional diagnosis. Nevertheless, that was an odd state of affairs, as any clinician working in the field would be able to quote studies that point to anything from 30% to 80% of patients with autism also having ADHD. More problematic still is the fact that patients with both sets of symptoms may respond poorly to standard ADHD treatments or have increased side effects. Continue reading...

Conservation programme sees numbers of the endangered cirl bunting reach 1,078 pairs – up from just 118 in 1989One of Britain’s most threatened farmland birds has reached a major milestone in its recovery from the brink of extinction, figures show.A nationwide survey by the RSPB shows the UK population of the cirl bunting – a small, finch-like bird – has reached 1,078 pairs after numbering just 118 in 1989. Continue reading...

Kukulkan pyramid built like ‘Russian nesting doll’ – a second structure had already been found under its exterior and now a third has been revealedExperts have discovered a third structure within the Kukulkan pyramid in eastern Mexico, revealing that it was built like a “Russian nesting doll”, experts said on Wednesday.

Perjeta can help shrink breast cancer tumours before patients undergo surgery to remove themA drug that can help shrink breast cancer tumours before patients undergo surgery to remove them has been approved for use in the NHS, after the manufacturer agreed a substantial discount on the list price.Perjeta, the brand name of pertuzumab, could be helpful in the treatment of 1,400 women a year who develop a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, but it was initially turned down by Nice, the National Institute for Healthcare Excellence, because of the high price set by the manufacturer, Roche. Continue reading...

Four-year study by linguists and historians of British and Irish records back to 11th century analyses family names“What’s in a name?” Juliet asked as she and Romeo tried to puzzle their way around the troubling problem of their warring families. Well, plenty, the most detailed investigation into surnames in the UK and Ireland has found.A team of researchers has spent four years studying the meanings and origins of almost 50,000 surnames, from the most common to the highly obscure. Continue reading...

Two reports place the country near the bottom of the league for emissions level, use of renewables and action to combat global warmingAustralia has been singled out again as a climate laggard, being ranked fifth-worst for emissions and policies among developed countries and among the six worst countries in the G20 when it comes to climate action.In the climate change performance index, released overnight at the UN climate talks in Marrakech, Australia comes ahead of only Kazakhstan, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Continue reading...

Pioneering slow-release pill could end repeat doses and help Alzheimer’s patients and mass treatment campaignsA pill that releases its medicine for two weeks after being swallowed is being hailed as a potential game-changer in drug treatment.In future, similar forms of longterm oral drug delivery could put an end to regimens requiring numerous repeat doses, which may be missed or found too inconvenient. Continue reading...